This invention relates to a computer system and method for placing product orders, and more particularly, to a system and method for ordering products over a wide area communications network, such as the Internet.
In order to sell their products to customers, manufacturers typically employ a chain of manufacturer's representatives and distributors. The manufacturer's representatives make sales calls on the distributors to encourage them to carry the manufacturer's products. The distributors stock and sell the manufacturer's products and advertise these products. Further, the manufacturer's representatives make sales calls on customers, such as contractors who utilize the products and designers who specify the products, to encourage them to purchase or specify the manufacturer's products. For example, the customers of a lighting manufacturer's products, such as lighting fixtures, include: architects, engineers and designers who specify the lighting requirements for various projects; contractors; corporations; military buying services; retail consumers; and wholesalers and other similar accounts.
The customers have a number of options when desiring to purchase products. They may directly contact the distributor to purchase the products, or they may work with the manufacturer's representative. These contacts may be in person, over the phone, via facsimile documents, or over a communications network such as the electronic mail and World Wide Web protocols of the Internet. As “surfing” the Web becomes increasingly popular, increasing numbers of customers are becoming comfortable with inquiring about and ordering products over the Web. Businesses are aware of this trend, and as such a potential customer surfing the Web is exposed to dramatically expanding options in purchasing a product.
With the relative low cost of establishing a website and offering products for sale, many manufacturers are foregoing the traditional sales and distribution methods in favor of direct marketing on the Web. In many of these instances, the manufacturers replace the distributors and manufacturer's representatives with the direct marketing website. This creates a number of problems, however, as the manufacturer is then solely responsible for promoting and distributing its own products. Further, when problems with a product arises in the field, the service traditionally provided by the manufacturer's representative is no longer available, leading to further problems for the manufacturer. Additionally, by dropping the distributors and manufacturer's representatives, the manufacturer losses a lot of contact points for promoting their product.
Realizing these disadvantages, some manufacturer's offer products both through the traditional chain of distributors and representatives, as well as directly on a website. The problem with this scenario, however, is that the distributors and representatives view the direct sales website as a competitor, and a threat to their own business. Thus, by implementing this structure, manufacturers are damaging the morale and cooperativeness of their own business associates. The distributors and representatives may then begin to favor the products of other manufacturers and may more aggressively promote and sell these other competing products, to the detriment of the manufacturer that has begun direct marketing.